


Kasinaa Vrei,ka :  Extraterrestrial Roots, Human Bones and a Heart that is Both

by RebeccaAnabelBurrows



Series: The Kasinaa Verse [1]
Category: DCU, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: And how Hal decided to adopt Kasinaa, First meeting with Hal, Hurt/Comfort, Kasinaa's background, M/M, Many Deaths, attack on a village, basically what happened before And that's why we should get married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25211203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebeccaAnabelBurrows/pseuds/RebeccaAnabelBurrows
Summary: When her village was attacked, Kasinaa was at school.A few hours later, she met Hal.--“Hal-shri ?” she called him.“Hm ?”“The lady, she said that she had adopted Zurka and that now he was going to live with her. Am I going to live with you, now ?” she said.Hal wasn’t sure if she liked the idea or not.“For a few days at least. Maybe weeks.” Hal said.Kasinaa frowned a bit at that.“Oh.”
Relationships: Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: The Kasinaa Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1823572
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	Kasinaa Vrei,ka :  Extraterrestrial Roots, Human Bones and a Heart that is Both

Kasinaa Vrei,ka was the only child of two human scientists working for an intergalactic organization or another who had crashed on a small technophobic planet during one of their expeditions. After meeting with the pacifist farmers living there, they had decided to stay for a bit. 

At first it had been a few weeks, but weeks had morphed into months before they realized it, and soon enough they became a part of the community living there. Liza had given birth to a girl a few years later. 

Liza, Charlie and their daughter had been living happily in Oria when the Sphasians ("the snakes" as Pyans called them), a belligerent species from the far North of the galaxy, had invaded their village. 

It was early in the morning and Kasinaa and the other children were weaving baskets in the small courtyard that was also used as a classroom when the weather allowed it. Their teacher was telling them about the different cereals cultivated in the neighboring fields. 

Kasinaa was paying extra attention to her basket, barely listening to the teacher. Pyans were better at precise manual work than humans but the kid worked hard to be at least as good as half her class. Deep down, she knew she would never be as efficient as Greya or his sister Hizchaa but she was determined to do her best in Master Zifa’s classes.

Her parents had insisted on her being allowed to join and she didn’t want to disappoint them.  
Kasinaa was so focused on her work that one of her older classmates had to shake her shoulder to make her realize that something was wrong. Now that she was paying attention to her environment, she could hear the screams and metallic sounds coming from the East side of the village. 

Master Zifa commended that the children left all their material on the floor and asked the older children to assist him with the younger ones. Kasinaa looked once more at her half-finished basket before taking the hand an older girl had extended to her. 

Hizchaa. She was beautiful, with her gracious figure, round face and the golden antennas on her arm. Being human, Kasinaa didn’t have antennas unlike her companions. She wished her arms were as pretty as theirs, with the golden or jade-green receptors all over them. 

The seventeen years old pulled Kasinaa towards the exit. Once outside, Master Zifa talked to the older teenagers. 

“My children, those are challenging times. Hizchaa, Raa, Sitera, Mopa and Lomaraa, I entrust my wards to you. Find the cave we went to last week and stay hidden there.”

“Master, you can’t go and fight !” Lomaraa exclaimed. 

Zifa Hi,ed (“The Well-Loved Teacher”) was an elderly man with hip troubles.

“I am not going to fight, daughter. I am going to sound the alarm.”

“Let me do it, Master.”

“No, Sitera. I have to do it myself, your assignment is to protect your classmates here. Go to the cave, all of you. Be quick, and stay silent. I’ll try to send you help. Wait for a few hours, if nobody came before nightfall, one of you must come back in the village and find supplies. You will have to go West, the next village will be a day walk away. And remember : trust the green light.” 

He kissed all of them on the head, giving them his benediction, and walked back into the schoolyard. 

“Come.” Hizchaa, the eldest of them all, said, pulling Kasinaa and another kid forward. “You heard Master Zifa, let’s find the cave. Quick.” 

They found the cave, hidden by some vegetation. It was cold there, and Master Zifa brought them here occasionally when the heat was excessive outside. Mopa stood guard first and the rest of them retreated deeper into the cave. 

Sitera started singing. His deep voice was enticing, and soon enough everyone was singing regional songs. Some parts were too difficult for Kasinaa, human organs couldn’t produce all the sounds Pyans were able to. 

During those parts, she clapped with Zurka, who had never spoken a word in his whole life. It was nice to have someone to clap along with. But today, Zurka didn’t clap.

Zurka was looking enviously at Sina cuddling his older sister. Kasinaa wished she had an older sister suddenly. 

“I am scared.” she told Hizchaa, pulling on her tunic.

Hizchaa stopped singing and smiled at her sadly.

“I am sorry, vrei,ka smei.” 

Small human. Kasinaa had often been called so in her life. 

“I want my Mom.” she said. 

Hizchaa hesitated but her hand closed over Kasinaa’s arm. The absence of antennas made her classmates reluctant to touch Kay but their disgust for her naked skin rarely overcame their desire to touch to reassure. The Pyans were physical people, and rather empathetic. 

“I want mine too, Kasinaa. I want mine too.” Hizchaa said, and Kasinaa’s had the curious impression that she was on the verge of tears.

“Is Master Zifa coming back ?” Kasinaa asked. 

People only blessed others before a long trip here. Hizchaa reddened and looked at her feet.

“No. No, I don’t think so.” the older girl said. “But the green light will. We have to trust the green light.” 

Kasinaa nodded. It was a shame. She liked Master Zifa very much. Kasinaa had started to fall asleep against Hizchaa’s shoulder when Mopa whistled the signal. 

“All of you, stay here and don’t move until we come back.” Hizchaa said to the few children sitting on the floor, taking all the oldest teenagers with her. 

“Do you have your cooking knives ?” 

All the children nodded. They were supposed to have a cooking lesson later in the day, and Pyans usually wore their tools on them. Kasinaa’s small hand wrapped around the small knife at her belt. 

“If we don’t come back, don’t hesitate to use them and run.” Hizchaa recommended before leading the few teenagers towards the entrance. 

The children huddled together, waiting for them to come back. Kasinaa had counted six times to one-hundred when they heard footsteps coming towards them. 

Kasinaa stood up on her shaky legs and so did all the other kids except Joza, who was holding his baby brother. 

The footsteps were too loud to be their classmates’. The first person to appear was someone of an unidentified form, probably from another planet. The second one… the second one reminded Kasinaa of her Dad. 

Kasinaa’s hand shook a bit. They were big, and them children were so small. Her back hit the wall - she hadn’t even noticed she had stepped back. 

They provided a strange vision, all those children holding knives and looking fierce despite the fear making their eyes too bright. 

“Sh,ra ! Sh,ra zgidie. Hij zbea, zbe.” the familiar voice of Hizchaa echoed against the cave’s walls as she made her way through the newcomers.

All the children put their knives back into their belts and boots and took a better look. The new people were wearing green. Radiating it, even. Hizchaa was right, they were the green light. 

They looked very serious as they led the kids outside the cave, helped by the older pupils of Master Zifa. Some of the older teenagers were crying or hugging each other. 

Kasinaa felt a little sick. Zurka took her hand for a bit. 

There were more people wearing green outside. They gathered Kasinaa and her classmates into a half-circle. A Dagus, one of those part-snake, part-wolf, part-lioness species started speaking in Pyan. The accent was a bit off, but she managed to pull off some sounds Kay had never had. 

“Something very bad happened in the village.” she said. “The… People died. Your parents died. We’re very sorry.” she kept saying. 

If she had been older, Kasinaa may have understood that they had already broken the news to the oldest teenagers to give them time to deal with it a bit before having to support the younger kids. 

Kasinaa shook her head. She wasn’t Pyan. Not by birth. Surely they meant the other children’s parents. She felt very sad for them. 

“We’re going to call members of your families that didn’t live here so they can take you in and take care of you. If you don’t have other family members, it’s okay. We’ll take you to the Guardians so they can find people to take care of you.” the alien woman (was she a woman ? Kay had assumed so but she wasn’t sure) explained. 

They had been brought under tents and talked to individually, the little kid always with an older kid at their side.

“I want home.” Kasinaa said as soon as the man that didn’t really look like her Dad but looked like him a bit had gone into her tent, followed by Mopa.

“We no longer have a home.” Mopa had said to her, crossing his arms on his chest.

“I want Mom and Dad.” Kasinaa clarified.

Hal took her small hand into his.

“You are Kasinaa, right ? You are human, yes ?”

“Yes. Vrei,ka. You too.” she realized.

That was why he looked a bit like her Dad and a bit not. He was human. 

“I am. Kasinaa, your parents are gone. They won’t come back. I am sure they would love to, but they can’t.”

The girl pushed him away and instinctively a green shield formed around Hal as he stumbled.

“The green light…” she mumbled, fascinated. “Master Zifa said to trust the green light.” 

Hal looked a bit surprised but recovered quickly. He was quite certain Master was referring to a teacher of some sort in this region. He remembered the broken and bloody body of an old man, near the school. Was he the one who had warned the Corps ?

“Master Zifa was a wise person, it would seem.” he said quietly. 

His skull had been broken, his body nearly separated in halves.

“Can I see him ?” the small child said innocently. 

Hal shivered at the thought. It was lucky that the kids had been taken far enough from the village to only witness the noise. The smell of death and decay hadn’t reached their surroundings, and the terrible images hadn’t been engraved in their young minds. 

“It’s better if you don’t. He needs to rest now.” he said.

Hal didn’t know that much about Pyan culture but he hoped the old man could. It seemed he had saved those children. There weren’t many Sphasians left when the Corps had arrived but Hal wasn’t certain children so young could have survived long alone. 

“Oh. My friends said they were going to their grandparents’ and their aunts’ and cousins’. I don’t have those.” the little human said, wrinkling her nose.

“Me neither, vrei,ka smei. It will be alright.” the elder kid, that had stayed silent until now, said soothingly.

At the end of the day, they had reached Oa with the remaining children, those they had not been able to bring to their families. Some had family on another planet and would depart soon, but four or five children would need to be welcomed into another family. 

Kasinaa was entrusted to Hal since she was human and he had been part of the rescue mission. He had taken her to the 28/7 market to buy some necessities. 

He had been looking at the price tags for hairbrushes when he had lost sight of her for maybe two seconds. As he turned to her to ask which was her favorite, he realized she was no longer at his side. 

“Kasinaa !” he called, looking all around him, his heart beating way too fast.

How could he have stopped paying attention to her ? She was a kid ! You didn’t let kids without supervision ever. Hal had asked around him and ran through half the market when he caught sight of her reddish hair. 

“Kasinaa !” 

She turned back, teary-faced and released the fur she was holding to run into Hal’s arms, sobbing. 

“Hal-shri !” she cried into his neck as he held her tight. 

Hal didn’t need his ring’s translation to notice the possessive suffix. He rubbed circles on her small back. 

“I am here, Kay. I am here.” he murmured as a familiar figure joined him.

Part-lioness, part-wolf and part-snake, Amatt Hel-Yz was a sight to behold. A young mostly human-looking boy with greenish antennas on his arms was sitting on her strong, feline back. 

“She’s yours, Jordan ? She followed my boy and couldn’t find you after that. She was so upset I couldn’t understand a word she was saying.” his fellow Lantern said.

“Kinda.” he said, and he felt warmth in his chest at the idea. “I was the only human on that Veo-4 mission. Your boy ? Wasn’t he one of the kids there ? Zukan ?”

“Zurka.” Kasinaa sniffed. “He’s my friend.” 

Hal kept rubbing at her back and kissed her forehead. 

“I decided to adopt him. He had nowhere to stay, and I didn’t want him to spend too much time waiting. He’s not a talker, this one, but he’s a good boy.” 

Zurka’s face brightened at this. Their protectors kept talking some more as Zurka and Kasinaa made faces at each other, giggling. 

Soon enough, Zurka started to yawn and they had to say goodbye. Kasinaa seemed rather melancholic as they chose the last supplies they needed for her, Hal’s hand holding her firmly.

Once back into his quarters, Hal made her sit on his bed and knelt in front of her so they could be face to face. 

“Kasinaa, I am sorry, I should have watched you better. But you have to promise me that next time you want to spend time with a friend, you ask. You can’t just go after them like that. I know your village was a small one but we’re in a big place now, you can’t just wander around without supervision.” 

The little girl nodded. Tears pooled into her eyes and Hal took her into his arms.

“I miss the village. I miss Mom and Dad and Zurka and my other friends.” she sobbed. 

Hal hadn’t realized that he hadn’t activated his ring and that they were talking in English.

“You speak English ?” he said, surprised. 

“Mom and Dad taught me. They said it was our secret language.” 

Hal nodded and made some effort to remember how to speak Pyan without the ring’s help. His first attempt made Kasinaa laugh - the accent wasn’t that easy to manage - but at his third her eyes brightened.

“You speak Pyan for real ?”

“Yes. I spent some months on Veo-4 a few years ago and learnt some. And it looks a bit like another language I know.” he said. “But my ring helps usually. It doesn’t have much energy now, though, so I am trying not to use it much right now. It helps me if you speak slower.” 

“I like it when you speak Pyan.”

Hal had figured so. He smiled at her.

“Hal-shri ?” she called him. 

“Hm ?”

“The lady, she said that she had adopted Zurka and that now he was going to live with her. Am I going to live with you, now ?” she said.

Hal wasn’t sure if she liked the idea or not.

“For a few days at least. Maybe weeks.” Hal said. 

Kasinaa frowned a bit at that. 

“Oh.”

“Is there something wrong ?” Hal asked her. 

He had sat on the floor and was looking up at her now. 

“With Zurka, we - we don’t talk really, but we understand each other, you know ?” she said softly.

Zurka was one of her oldest friends. She used to see him all the time. She had been so happy to see him before she realized she had lost Hal in the crowd. 

“I saw you two signing.” Hal admitted, even if he didn’t have a clue about Pyan Sign Language. 

For all he knew it could as well as been a language only the two kids used between them. It didn’t look much like ASL but Pyan didn’t really look like English either. 

“Zurka said his lady had said he could stay forever. Maybe I can stay forever with you too ?”

Hal considered it. He was going to need to talk to Bruce soon. 

“Is it what you want ?”

Kasinaa nodded, her cheeks a bit red.

“I can’t promise anything right now, but I promise I’ll try and if it fails, I promise you I’ll find you the best family I could. Is it okay with you ?” 

“I don’t want you to fail.” the little girl said, her face a bit sad. 

Hal promised himself he would do whatever it took to adopt her then. Just to make that sad air disappear from her face. 

“Me neither but it’s getting late, sweetheart. Maybe you should go to sleep.” he said. 

Tomorrow, he would ask for Kasinaa’s custody. How hard could it be ? Surely Bruce wouldn’t mind, would he ? 

So many questions, so few answers. Maybe Hal should let the night do its work too.

**Author's Note:**

> I would have waited a day or two before posting this but I can't sleep. I have been working on another part of the Kasinaa Verse (Post-ASM) and I was wondering... which superhero name would fit Kasinaa ? All things considered, I want it to be a bird name but I don't want her to take Robin from Damian (not at first anyway). 
> 
> I've done some research - I do that sometimes, I swear - but there are so many options my head is spinning (I compared wingspans. What am I even doing ?). I've gone through some wikipedia pages (not all written in a language I can speak, but the English translation for the more complete Finnish page was okay) and ornithological websites but after staring at Baltimore orioles, yellowhammers, red cardinals, grey wagtails and many birds I didn't even know the English name for before this for longer than necessary, I settled for other possibilities. 
> 
> The strongest contenders are those ones but I'd rather not write four alternative versions in the future so I'd like to settle on only one :
> 
> 1 - Blue Jay (however I am going to use it for an OC in another fic at some point), shortened as Blue occasionally, because a blue suit could be nice and not too Robin-like. And the name would be a small tribute to her older brothers.  
> 2 - (Black Capped) Chickadee, since they're quite small (smaller than robins) and her siblings could get away with calling her Chick during patrol (and Kay could have a small black cape because my humor is terrible)  
> 3 - (Siberian) Blue Robin because it seems quite obvious but due to sexual dimorphism (quite common for birds if I remember well), the female is not blue (one point for the Blue Jay !) but a brownish color.  
> 4 - Swiflet (but I guess Swift could do too, Swiftlet is a subcategory in English, right ?) just because of this glorious sentence in the wikipedia article about swifts : some species (?) "developped echolocation for navigation through dark cave systems where they roost". (Like bats. And dark caves ? Hard to resist.)
> 
> tl;dr : I'd love to hear about what you think about this one-shot, but I am also making a sort of poll here for Kasinaa's superhero's name : Blue Jay, Chickadee, Blue Robin or Swiftlet. Suggestions are fine and will be credited. 
> 
> Also here's my [very new Tumblr for my ao3 account](https://r-a-b-talks.tumblr.com/) if you'd rather send an anonymous message for my poll.


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